Ladies and gentlemen, let’s take this opportunity to recognize that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to keep and bear fireworks.

We love our freedoms here, but the community doesn’t have much of an appetite for the rockets’ red glare just now. In the Pikes Peak region we’ve seen plenty of the wrong kind of fireworks in the past week.

The private use of fireworks has been banned across Colorado. In Colorado Springs, City Hall banned public fireworks displays and enacted a zero tolerance policy for anyone caught setting off fireworks.

That means in cases in which someone might have received a warning in the past, they will now receive a municipal court summons. As the Colorado Springs Police Department reminded us a few days ago, a conviction for such a violation may carry a fine of up to $500 and

or 90 days in jail.

If property damage or injury occurs as a result of such a violation the perpetrator may be charged with the Colorado State statute of arson.

The cause of the Waldo Canyon Fire still is being investigated, but in the week before it started, law enforcement officials in Park and Teller counties were trying to find a serial arsonist who had set little fires near Lake George, Divide and Woodland Park.

The landscape is so dry that the smallest fire can become a big one. You’d have to be crazy or stupid to play with fireworks now.

So of course we can assume some people still will do it.

It seems crazy, but even though the use of fireworks has been banned, there are still fireworks stands in unincorporated Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties. If it’s illegal to use them anywhere in the state, why would we allow them to be sold?

It makes you wonder what Adams and Jefferson would have to say about it.

Anyhow, our neighbors or their kids still are free to place the rest of us at risk.

That “freedom” isn’t enumerated in the Bill of Rights. But you are free to call the police if people are shooting off fireworks in your neighborhood.

Calling police for a fireworks violation might seem extreme, something you’ve never considered. But if you want to see extreme, there is a lot to look at on the west side of Colorado Springs.

We don’t need any more fires. No need for sparklers or bottle rockets. We’ve had plenty of excitement.

To those of you who love fireworks: Please pursue your happiness in a different way this year.

The Fourth of July is a big deal; we shouldn’t ignore it. We can celebrate the Second Amendment and all the rest of our freedoms with watermelon or corn on the cob.

Let’s be safe. Let’s have a nice, quiet holiday next week and not burn anything down.

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Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.